Identification

Title

Impact of scale-aware deep convection on the cloud liquid and ice water paths and precipitation using the Model for Prediction Across Scales (MPAS-v5.2)

Abstract

The cloud liquid water path (LWP), ice water path (IWP), and precipitation simulated with uniform- and variable-resolution numerical experiments using the Model for Prediction Across Scales (MPAS) are compared against Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) and Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission data. Our comparison between monthly-mean model diagnostics and satellite data focuses on the convective activity regions of the tropical Pacific Ocean, extending from the Tropical Eastern Pacific Basin where trade wind boundary layer clouds develop to the Western Pacific Warm Pool characterized by deep convective updrafts capped with extended upper-tropospheric ice clouds. Using the scale-aware Grell-Freitas (GF) and Multi-scale Kain-Fritsch (MSKF) convection schemes in conjunction with the Thompson cloud microphysics, uniform-resolution experiments produce large biases between simulated and satellite-retrieved LWP, IWP, and precipitation. Differences in the treatment of shallow convection lead the LWP to be strongly overestimated when using GF, while being in relatively good agreement when using MSKF compared to CERES data. Over areas of deep convection, uniform- and variable-resolution experiments overestimate the IWP with both MSKF and GF, leading to strong biases in the top-of-the-atmosphere longwave and shortwave radiation relative to satellite-retrieved data. Mesh refinement over the Western Pacific Warm Pool does not lead to significant improvement in the LWP, IWP, and precipitation due to increased grid-scale condensation and upward vertical motions. Results underscore the importance of evaluating clouds, their optical properties, and the top-of-the-atmosphere radiation budget in addition to precipitation when performing mesh refinement global simulations.

Resource type

document

Resource locator

Unique resource identifier

code

http://n2t.net/ark:/85065/d7f192z9

codeSpace

Dataset language

eng

Spatial reference system

code identifying the spatial reference system

Classification of spatial data and services

Topic category

geoscientificInformation

Keywords

Keyword set

keyword value

Text

originating controlled vocabulary

title

Resource Type

reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2016-01-01T00:00:00Z

Geographic location

West bounding longitude

East bounding longitude

North bounding latitude

South bounding latitude

Temporal reference

Temporal extent

Begin position

End position

Dataset reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2020-06-29T00:00:00Z

Frequency of update

Quality and validity

Lineage

Conformity

Data format

name of format

version of format

Constraints related to access and use

Constraint set

Use constraints

Limitations on public access

None

Responsible organisations

Responsible party

contact position

OpenSky Support

organisation name

UCAR/NCAR - Library

full postal address

PO Box 3000

Boulder

80307-3000

email address

opensky@ucar.edu

web address

http://opensky.ucar.edu/

name: homepage

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Metadata on metadata

Metadata point of contact